#book 2 was so much better

[inhonoredglory]

A Wartime Footing: An Explanation for Aziraphale's Elevator Smile

(Based on an ask from @sabotage-on-mercury in response to my meta on why Aziraphale had to go to Heaven)

The creepy smile was one part of the ending I couldn't quite put my finger on either, until someone pointed out on a Twitter response to my meta:

The reason why its scary is bc azi is becoming properly angry at the system and is 101% determined to set things right (Source)

In season 1, Aziraphale was determined not to kill anyone to stop the Apocalypse. He wouldn't even tell Crowley where the Antichrist was, because Crowley's only solution was to kill him.

And because Crowley consistently didn't have any ideas ("not one single better idea??"), Aziraphale took it on himself to pursue the only option left––to ask God to intervene and stop both Heaven and Hell from destroying Earth. Therefore, Aziraphale had to keep the integrity of his angel status by distancing himself from Crowley, while the world was still in danger.

Despite this dedication avoid bloodshed, when God didn't have an answer, Aziraphale went against one of his core beliefs to help save the world. He was willing to murder a child.

For Aziraphale, that takes guts. And (seeing how he reacted at the end of the Job minisode), I wonder that if he had killed Adam Young, Aziraphale would have checked himself into Hell.

Going to Heaven for Aziraphale is ultimately a conscious choice, one that he is clearly afraid of. We see him constantly steeling himself again the Metatron in the end, covering his fear and hurt from losing Crowley with a placid smile and a flippant attitude. He's wearing so many masks, to Crowley, to himself, to the Metatron...

All season we've seen him playing roles (detective, magician, doctor, landlord). But the final role is warrior. Going up that elevator, we first see Aziraphale's eyes searching, worried, panicking, but unable to show it because he's not in a safe space. He swallows, blinks, he's breathing hard (you can see his entire shoulders rise and fall).

But as he goes up, his expression steels. He's quite literally putting on a mask (to himself): a vengeful, hardened expression of pure anger and rage (to drown out the fear and uncertainty he so clearly still has).

Michael Sheen conveying contained anger in both Good Omens and Masters of Sex.

Cuz this isn't just him scrambling to kill a kid, this is him walking calmly and knowingly into sacrificing everything he loves most (Crowley, the bookshop, his entire life on earth) to create a world that will always be safe for him and Crowley and humanity for the rest of time. Where he would have to go up against the most powerful angels, the Metatron, and God Themself to change things. He can't be the kind, sweet angel he was on Earth. That won't cut it in Heaven if he wants to make a difference in any real way.

He wanted to do it with Crowley, with the love and support and strength of his demon. But without him, Aziraphale has to channel something else to keep his resolve afloat.

Something he had when he was a warrior, fighting on the front lines of a battle between Heaven and Hell, when he very likely led a platoon into divine fields of bloodshed before the earth was born. When he was an avenging angel.

I haven’t done this since the Great War.

It was a time and an identity he had chosen to leave behind, because it wasn't the kind of angel he was anymore ("I'm not fighting in any war!"). In this context, you can read Aziraphale's passionate unwillingness to take a life (his pacifism) directly into his past experience as a warrior. It is often the veterans of terrible wars who are the most earnest advocates for peace. (And especially in Britain and Europe, where the violence of the world wars is still such a powerful and painful national memory.)

As he goes up the elevator, he's breathing so hard we can hear it mirrored in the soundtrack, and he is so hyperfocused on steeling himself that he doesn't even care that the Metatron is watching him. He doesn't rest until he's psyched himself into that warrior mindset necessary to carry out this mission entirely by himself, to be both the moral advocate and the uncompromising leader of angels who had intimidated him his entire life. To demand respect and to talk to the very face of God and tell Them they are Wrong.

(Please read this Neil-approved meta for further thoughts on God and Aziraphale.)

That creepy smile is clearly not there because Aziraphale is happy to fall into a toxic parent's false love. There's no comfort or wistful nostalgia in that face. There's no "it'll be so much nicer" in that smile. It's not a happy smile. It's an I'm-gonna-fuck-shit-up smile.

Because it's a warrior's smile before they go into battle, before they put on that armor and, for a while, become something they're not in the name of some greater good. He's fucking furious and it's downright frightening.

Because I have no doubt that the angel Aziraphale we get in Season 3 is the angel Aziraphale who can say this:

He's not quite there yet in the TV show. But this bravery, this anger, this flaming rage is how it starts.

Or as he's described in the book when Aziraphale mysteriously does away with the local mafia:

Just because you’re an angel doesn’t mean you have to be a fool.

#good omens #good omens 2 #aziraphale #aziraphale meta #aziraphale defense squad #ineffable husbands #good omens meta #go s2 meta #go meta #go s2 #michael sheen #book!aziraphale #*mine #*mymeta #made this a separate post cuz i dunno which version is better for reblogs #the side-by-side gifs kept crashing on me 😑 #anyway I love and adore defending our angel #but in no way am I taking sides #I'm just coming to his aid since he's getting so much flack rn

[a-heart-of-kyber]

I can only speak as a person raised Catholic (heh...), but let me present a wild scenario.

Could you imagine the actual Holy Spirit having a clear and direct sentient influence in your child's life?

With this connection to the Holy Spirit, he starts performing absolutely insane miracles that a Child shouldn't be capable of and by the age of 8 God's chosen priest shows up like "Hey kid, have you heard of our lord and savior Jesus Christ? In my day, he was super sexy. You’re special. I'm going to train you and later you should probably go to a religious school."

And then, by age 17ish, Jesus himself shows up like, "Yes, twas me the whole time. Let me train you one on one my child." And then a year later, your son tells you he's sleeping with Jesus?

Like...does this help anyone understand what happened to Gale better? Or does it help that the Mystra analog is depicted as a man? Do you need me to hold your hand and tell you that even if Gale showed interest, it was on Mystra, as the omniscient god with all the power in the relationship and Future sight?!, to not fucking sleep with the mortal who maybe became an adult 5 minutes ago?

#you do realize there are books that state the weave is mystra and mystra is the weave #she uses the weave in. the. game. to lovebomb him in act 2 and arguably in act 1 #tw grooming #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #bg3 #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 #he deserves so much better like holy shit #the willful ignorance is troubling #like *gestures wildly* how are you denying/disregarding this?! #she HAS A HISTORY tf is wrong with you people #I've seen many people who have done the research state this Mystra is all Mystras too so #given her past history and the fact she's still doing it she's absolutely on the line for her past sins #wtf #fuck mystra #if you try to say there's nuance i will block you

[tongues--and--teeth]

Guys I think his effigy is ready

#Google Search: What to do if you find your advisor crucifying/burning a semi-life sized doll of you? #wow teeth posting twice in a month? shocking. first time this has ever happened. #teethart #crk #cookie run fanart #cookie run kingdom #fanart #affogato cookie #dark cacao cookie #crk affogato #dark cacao crk #cr fanart #digital art #artists on tumblr #tw fire #art #isn’t it crazy it’s been over 2 years since these two have last interacted? #because they didn’t talk in book 14 and they didn’t talk in cookie odyssey and they haven’t been on the same continent every other time #crazy #anyway? I should’ve left that miserable kingdom earlier! Life is so much better now that I’ve left that stubborn old fool #anyway? Leave him/ I don’t eat sweets/ shut your poisonous mouth this instant #is this ship art? maybe. #you can’t prove anything

[jackstheprinceofhearts]

I MISS JACKS 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 HE IS MY BABYGIRL 😭😭😭 AND I MISS HIM GUYS I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT UNTIL FALL💔💔💔💔💔🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥😦😦😦😭😭😭😈😈😈

#i love him #so much #please #i miss my boy #HE BETTER BE IN LIKE THE ENTIRE BOOK #I WANT A JACKS SCENE EVERY 2 PAGES AT LEAST #)): #I MISS HIMMMMMM #💔💔💔💔💔 #tbona #ouabh #jacks prince of hearts #evajacks #the ballad of never after #evangeline fox #jacks x evangeline #caraval #books #stephanie garber #acftl #a curse for true love

[jade-len]

nothing says family bonding time like binge watching a kdrama for over 5 hours straight with your mom till 5 am when you were supposed to be studying and both asleep at least 3 hours ago ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#ngl i was actually really enjoying it #it was. it was marry my husband #(in my opinion) it was much more interesting and better than the webtoon #i didnt hate the webtoon but it wasnt my favorite.. but it also wasnt bad? idk #we tried to watch the mdzs cdrama but we just. couldnt. im so sorry it was so confusing #i need to read the book instead #i actually dont rlly watch kdramas or anything like that #but decided 'eh ill check this one out and watch it with her' #next thing you know im gonna be asleepp till 2 pm today #marry my husband #webtoon #manhwa #kdrama

[thebookofbill]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HE’S FUCKING BACK

I CALLWD MY BEST FRIEND IMMEDIATELY TO SCREWM AND TELL HIM ABOUT IT. WE YAVE COLLECTIVELT PREORDERED ALL THREE AVAILABLE BERSIONS. I AM SO SOSP SO FUCKIMG EXCITED

#gravity falls #bill cipher #the book of bill #thatgffan posted about Alex’s tweets last night and I was wondering what was happening #my best friend said ‘50% chance he’s doing Christmas fuckery 50% chance you’re getting something crazy’ #I didn’t think it would be an animation project #Some people thought it would be the scrapped art book #I was hoping it would be Journals 1-2 because I wanted Lore #as it turns out #It was even better than that :’) #Oh it’s happening! It’s finally finally happening! #The Sunny Day has come. Bill is back #It was hard to believe it was even real for a few minutes. It felt too good to be true #I genuinely screamed so loud #and Bill’s laugh in that teaser video……… god I missed that sound #I disregarded the warnings in the product description immediately #I hope his backstory doesn’t contradict Flat Dreams too much… #‘I hope this aligns exactly with my fanfic Alex. If not I will be very disappointed’ /j

[tragicotps]

Excerpt from The amber spyglass: chapter 16: The intention craft

#marisa coulter #asriel belacqua #his dark materials #the amber spyglass #the intention craft #book quotes #chapter 16 #asriel x marisa #masriel #i dont know why they changed this so much in the show and made 2 different scenes for this #i like the book version much better #it was so much less agressive than actually choking her #book asriel couldn't even gag her and he just untied her after she gave up the power play #he also did not wipe it away 'calmly' on the show lol #but its the only footage i had #that first quote could be interpreted wildly different in another context lmao this entire convo is 👌👌👌 #anyways add this to my long list of scenes i wanted ruth and james to act out #can they voice the audiobook or something that would be great thanks

[apple-of-my-pie]

hands down the best part of the unspoken name for me was looking at the blurb on the back cover, thinking ‘what the hell is an evil found family?’ and then reading the book and going ah. I see

#csorwe tal and sethennai’s Dynamic cannot be described better #evil wizard and his two lieutenants who hate each other so so so bad #one is loyal in a dutiful knight way but also he saved her life and she owes him. and he’s like her dad but he’s very much not like a dad. #and he values her mostly for her ability to perform tasks but that’s the way she’s always been treated. at least w him the task isn’t death #and the Other one is loyal bc 1) wtf Else is he gonna do w his life 2) he wants to fuck his evil wizard boss so bad it makes him look stupid #evil found family of all time methinks #i didn’t even finish the book lol #the unspoken name #bay’s originals

[obsob]

yes i am getting emails 

#dracula daily #mine #lov that this means absolutely nothing to people not reading ksjfksl #i love jonathan hes gay and autistic cant wait to see him get eaten or smth #im back from a 2 week work break now! i was very burnt out i feel a lot better >:) drawing time #these images came to me in a vision yesterday evening but i was too tired to draw them #im sleepy now....sleepy baby...... #i slept so bad last night my tummy hurt so bad!!! idk why!!! i had a lot of carbs w dinner so maybe that was it #i still havent figured out what it is my stomach doesnt like. durham wheat i think is oneof them but ??? dfdsfj #whatever. my fault for not drinking more peppermint tea #i didnt like wake up wake up last night but i kept like. coming to a little bit n shifting abt until i found a more comfy position #utmmy ouchy.......hopefully will be less so tonight heh!! #i idid yoga this morning i forgot how much i lov it #also ive been reading captive prince again. is this series a lil problematic? yes. thats why the gods gave us critical thinking #i need a break from stone earth trilogy im on to the last book now....ouhghg...... #have a new book arriving tomorrow yes yes yes yes

[ainelane]

i love stories set in dying worlds, i love stories about the end of era's i love the melancholy and bitter sweetness of seeing the end of something great. and watching the last people born into it coming to terms with the fact that they are the last that'll experience something like this ever again. maybe it's the end maybe it's the start of something a bit less magical or even more horrifically magical. they don't know but they are the last of a previous era and the pioneer's of a new one

#this post is about a manga i recently reread and it reminded me of my love for like these dying worlds that are on the brink of change #for better or worse #Asamiya-san no Imouto #that's the name of the manga and it's feeling isn't exactly like "this is a dying world but #the further into the story the more the world feels like it's rotting or at the very end of the story you get the feeling that things aren' #going to be super okay lmao #another good one is #natsume yuujinchou #natsume's book of friends #where the end of the era that human's and youkai interact and influence and change each other #that story is the definition of bittersweet and kinda down beat but it's heartwarming and comfortable #another good one #the ancient magus bride #This one is semipopular so i wont go too much into the reason it gives the feel but the further into the story you get the more you'd get i #moving away from anime #red dead redemption 2 #it really captures the end of the era feeling... which was the point but it's really a good gaming example

[liu-anhuaming]

so not to be gross or anything, but my mucus is starting to turn yellowish and like, apparently this means your immune system is fighting off whatever illness you have, which is awesome, glad my immune system is trying to help me out

but that raises the question: if i'm on the 5th day of this cold and my snot is only just turning yellow, what the fuck was my immune system doing the first 4 days????

#yes. i am still sick. #the worst part is that with each day i feel better in one respect #but then there's also something else that gets worse #like yesterday my nose finally started running #which was great #the not great part? it's been running so much that i've almost gone through 2 boxes of tissues in under 24 hrs and i couldn't sleep #i got in bed around 10 pm and did not fall asleep until around 430 am #in the time it took me to fall asleep i read an entire 300 page book #but yeah. my immune system is apparently a dumb bitch

[pxme-granate]

#nevermoor series #morrigan crow #cadence blackburn #hawthorne swift #anah kahlo #lambeth #lamya ra #pxme art #here we go again #ooc cadence would not try to hide her laughter #ALSO i had so much trouble with cadence’s hair for NO reason but i think i have it to a spot i like lol #i really like the idea of anah piercing cadence’s ear #it’s probably safer than doing it anywhere else…probably #i think book 2 would’ve been better if lam got a hug at the end of it 👀 #do i know how to draw 13 year olds? no #did i really try? also no lol

[monaownsmyass]

What the fuck are these proportions😭

Nia looks so much taller than Mal and Imtura. And correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t Orcs taller than Elves?? Even if it’s a no, if Imtura were to stand up she’s only up to Tyril’s shoulder. Their heads aren’t even proportional to their bodies what is thisss💀

#mal our short king🥰 #Nia’s legs longer than my lifespan #this is so disappointing #considering our last group cg in book 1 looked sooo much better #blades of light and shadow #blades of light and shadow 2 #blades #blades 2 #bolas #bolas 2 #imtura tal kaelen #nia ellarious #mal volari #tyril starfury #choices #choices: stories you play #pb #pixelberry #playchoices

[liesmyth]

you are my jock icon, thanks for existing. I previously conceptualized jogging as a dreadful activity, to be avoided at all costs, but have been jogging since November and just did 10km today. Hurray, it’s actually fun. Anyway, does your shoulder ever hurt while jogging? This seems to be the main part of my body that bothers me and not sure why.

HEY THAT'S AMAZING GO YOU! I remember the first time I finished a 10k run and immediately had to go brag to 3 people about it because I felt SO powerful. I'm legit honoured you decided to share this with me, I got this ask and immediately had to walk it off and giggle about it. THANK YOU

as for your question: sometimes, yeah! It usually happens if my back is a bit stiff. It was a bigger issue for me as a running novice, and gradually went down as I learned to 'check in' with my body during a run every ten minutes or so — are your shoulders pulled up? is your neck or back tense? Also: if you wear a bra, are the straps digging uncomfortably into your shoulder and maybe you're compensating for that? IME, it also helps to do some neck circles + arm swings as part of your warmup before longer / intense runs (I do those, leg swings, and hip circles, takes like 2 mins total) and to stretch your back / spine after a run or during the week.

...but even with all of that, sometimes it just happens. If I'm running in the park on sunday mornings I'd see minimum 5 people rolling their shoulders or doing arm swings at some point mid-run because it's so common. Especially over longer runs

#Anonymous #ask #jockposting #I am THEE biggest hypocrite because I know SO much about recovery & warmups <- girl who likes to read Serious Runners Books for fun #but I do. very little of it #there's a comment on r/running that's like 'I WILL run 2 hours on any given sunday but taking 5 minutes to stretch after is too much' #and that's me fr #I need to get better at it :D #runblr

[laughableillusions]

I love how Shogun portrays Europeans as being dirty and filthy and foul mouthed and they spit on the ground and their clothes are all dirty like yes !!! finally !!!!

#I’m only on ep 2 no spoilers but Lady Mariko being like “um…for some reason he doesn’t want to take a bath😒😒” #so fucking funny dude #and it’s also so interesting that the Englishman is like “they want to colonize your land England is sooo much nicer and better🥺🥺” #me when I lie #I watch it with my mom bc she read the books #apparently they made this show before in the 70s

[lilryetoast]

Halloween jesslake in the middle of January? Apparently :/

#infinity train #infinity train book 2 #infinity train lake #lake infinity train #jesslake #jesse cosay #jesslake Halloween #it’s actually Halloween guys #sorry to break it to you #the dpi looks so much better wth #I’m so mad I didn’t figure that out sooner smh #I just wanted an excuse to draw Jesse as dracula lol #I couldn’t decide on lakes costume